Police log

Crews battle barn fire near Thurmont

SABILLASVILLE, Md. - Fire Companies from Thurmont, Md., and Emmitsburg, Md., as well as from Franklin County, Pa., fought a two-alarm barn fire in Sabillasville into the night Tuesday.

A Frederick County Emergency Services dispatcher said the blaze in the 17000 block of Sabillasville Road, about two miles east of the Washington County line, was reported at 9:14 p.m.

Firefighters continued to fight the flames more than an hour later, according to the dispatcher.

Woman, 18, treated after fall from horse

Emergency workers took an 18-year-old woman participating in the Mount Aetna Youth Camp to Washington County Hospital Tuesday after she fell from a horse, according to a county dispatcher.

Smithsburg Emergency Medical Services and Mount Aetna Fire Department personnel responded to the youth camp, off Mount Aetna Road outside Hagerstown, at 4 p.m. after the woman reportedly was thrown from a horse.

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Emergency services dispatchers and Smithsburg Capt. James Ulrich did not release the woman's name or condition Tuesday.

Bail reduced for man charged with rape

The bail of a 36-year-old Hagerstown man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl four times between May and June was reduced by more than 50 percent Tuesday in Washington County District Court.

James Jordan Shank, of 320 S. Burhans Blvd., is being held at the Washington County Detention Center on $165,000 bond, according to court records. He previously was being held on $350,000 bond, records say.

Shank is charged with four counts of second-degree rape, one count of second-degree sex offense, one count of sex abuse of a minor, one count of child abuse and one count of second-degree assault.

Conviction on the rape and sex offense charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Shank is awaiting a trial date in Washington County Circuit Court, according to records.

Man faces multiple drug charges

A convicted drug dealer faces a mandatory 10-year prison sentence if convicted on new charges.

Omar Dallas Motley, 22, of 715 Salem Ave. in Hagerstown, is charged with felony counts of possession of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute, among other charges.

Court records allege he sold drugs on Monday to an informant of the county Narcotics Task Force.

Records allege that a task force agent met Motley in the 20000 block of Jefferson Boulevard and purchased $600 of suspected crack cocaine. During a search later Monday, Washington County Sheriff's deputies allegedly found three additional bags of cocaine in one of Motley's body cavities, according to records. Records say that if convicted, Motley would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years without parole, because he was convicted on distribution charges in 1997.

Motley was being held at the Washington County Detention Center on $150,000 bond, records say.

Skateboarder hurt in Tuesday crash

FREDERICK, Md. - A Frederick man was charged with driving on a suspended Maryland license and driving on a suspended out-of-state license after a skateboarder was struck by a car on U.S. 40, Frederick City Police said.

Maryland State Police flew the skateboarder, Jonathan Andrew Howe, of Frederick, to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore following the Tuesday afternoon accident.

Rodolfo Morales, 27, of the 200 block of Appleton Place, was charged after his Ford Taurus struck Howe in a left-turn lane, according to police. Witnesses told police the skateboarder was riding southbound across U.S. 40 and crossed in front of Morales' car, police said.

Howe was thrown over the car and landed on the road, according to police. Police said Howe suffered multiple head injuries.

A Shock Trauma spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Howe's condition late Tuesday.

Traffic on I-70 slowed

Traffic was snarled for more than four hours on eastbound Interstate 70 near Hagerstown Tuesday morning after a westbound tractor-trailer crossed the median just a few feet west of White Hall Road, Maryland State Police said.

Another accident in Frederick County caused delays as well, police said.

The 2001 International 18-wheeler owned by Cardinal Freight Carriers of Concord, N.C., skidded across the median west of White Hall Road at about 5 a.m., breaking through the north guardrail on the eastbound lanes, police said.

The driver was taken to Washington County Hospital.

Maryland State Police said additional information was not available Tuesday.

Sgt. Brad Brown said one man was flown out by helicopter after a single-car accident on eastbound I-70 at Md. 17 near Myersville, Md., in Frederick County.

A car skidded off the roadway, Brown said. That accident appeared to be weather- related, Brown said. The driver's identity was not available.

Police said eastbound I-70 was closed early Tuesday after the accident, and was reopened for about 90 minutes until towing crews closed the lanes again to remove the truck. By 9 a.m., all lanes were open, but traffic was still slow, police said.